Introduction:

Learning a language formally begins with its alphabet. Understanding the alphabet and its pronunciation rules is a very important aspect of learning Hindi or any language. Hindi is written in Devanagari script. It has 12 vowels and 36 consonants. If you are a native speaker of any other Indian language, you might find relatable vowels and consonants and their pronunciation in your language. If you are a native English speaker, you can still relate the pronunciation to some English letters, however, there are many letters or pronunciations which do not exist in English and thus may need more time for practice.

To begin with the Hindi vowels there are both short and long sounds and some of them are pronounced with a nasal sound. You can find some diphthongs also in Hindi.

These are the Hindi vowels. Let us see how they are pronounced.

अ     a as in alive

आ    aa as in hard

इ      e as in ink

ई      ee as in east

उ     u as in put

ऊ    oo as in food

ऋ    ri as in ring

ए      e as in elephant

ऐ      ai as in air

ओ    o and in oak  

औ    au as in august

 अं    am as in umbrella

When it comes to learning pronunciation of consonants you can categorize them into

1.     aspirated and unaspirated
2.     retroflex and dental

unaspirated letters can have similar sounds to that of English letters for example

 ट     ta as in tub

क     ka as in k of cup or cut

ट      ta as in tub

प      pa as in pug

ड     da as in dull

whereas the aspirated letters sound different for example

थ    which is pronounced as th in think or thorough

For many of the aspirated consonants it may be difficult to find equivalents in English. For example

भ     to write, it would be bh which is the b sound of b combined with the h sound as in hut together.

The position of the tongue decides whether a letter is retroflex or dental.

For retroflex letters, the tongue touches the roof of the mouth and for dental it touches the teeth. Also, you can find many letters that are pronounced with your mouth closed or open.

Then there are nasal sounds that are pronounced by nasalizing a word or a letter. For example

Pankaj which means lotus or

Bandar which is a monkey

To understand these pronunciations and different rules of pronunciation in Hindi, you can listen to audio lessons which are specifically designed for pronunciation. There are many free audio lessons available online.

To practice the pronunciation, you can simultaneously read from a book, listen to the audio and say after it. This helps in getting the pronunciation right.

You can also join a class where you learn it from the teacher. For those of you who find it easy to learn in an individual class or look for flexible timings, online classes are the best option. You can find an online class that allows you to learn from the teacher directly in a one-to-one session and decide the schedule that best suits your timings.

This allows you to interact with the teacher directly and clarify all your pronunciation-related doubts in person. You can also learn at your own pace.

Do your research, find the best class that fits your needs and start learning Hindi pronunciation the right way.